Abstract Details
| Name: Akshay Suresh Affiliation: IISER Pune Conference ID: ASI2017_494 Title : Exploring the Spatial Distribution of Weak Non-thermal Energy Release on the Solar Surface Authors and Co-Authors : Divya Oberoi (NCRA-TIFR, Pune, India) Abstract Type : Poster Abstract Category : Sun and the Solar System Abstract : Low frequency solar radio observations using the new generation interferometric arrays have revealed the presence of numerous weak, short-lived (~1-2 seconds) and narrow-band (~4-5 MHz) emission features, even during quiet to moderate solar conditions. These non-thermal features are believed to arise via coherent emission processes and are considered to be observational signatures of small-scale magnetic reconnection events in the solar corona. Our previous work on statistical characterization of such features observed using the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) has shown that they typically possess energies of about $10^{15}$ – $10^{18}$ ergs and hence, qualify as being among the weakest bursts reported in literature. Hudson (1991) has shown that for weak flares to contribute significantly to coronal and chromospheric heating, the power law (dN/dW $\propto$ W$^{\alpha}$) index of their flare energies (W) must be less than -2. We have shown that the peak flux density distribution of these features follows a power law with index -2.23, meeting Hudson's criterion. It is reasonable to expect that any mechanism contributing to coronal heating should operate roughly uniformly all over the solar surface. We have initiated an imaging study of these features with the objective of identifying the distribution of locations of these features and looking for associations with other solar features. Here we summarize the current status of this project and the results obtained thus far. |